Goodnight
by caesara
Summary: Bella's not been hanging out with Cullens as often as usual. Something's wrong. When the family is out on a hunting trip execpt for Carlisle, Bella needs him, and he's there. Not Bella/Carlisle romance-just friendship. May be complete.


Bella had been spending a lot of time away from the Cullens' for about three weeks now. And it happened suddenly. No one knew why. She swore to Edward that it wasn't that she didn't like him anymore. She's actually cried and begged him to believe her, even after he already had said that he understood-something no one thought was "Bellaish"

Besides, Jasper could tell she wasn't lying. She was just really sad…and nervous?

Even her dad was concerned, in his own awkward way. He wasn't used to seeing Bells at home for so much in a long time. She told him it was because of homework. She claimed that her new teacher Mr. Road gave out a lot more homework than Mr. Banner. It was funny, Edward didn't think he gave out that much more.

Charlie was on a fishing trip with Billy Black for the weekend, so Edward suggested she spend the night; things didn't turn out as well as he had planned. Esme had planned a surprise hunting trip to an unknown location (except for Alice) for the whole family. Bella didn't want to be the cause of their not going, so she said she'd just stay home alone, but then Carlisle suggested that she stay anyway, since he'd be at the house. He had a major surgery to do that only he was qualified for, the exact same weekend, and he didn't want Bella alone by herself.

So Bella found herself in the Cullens' huge house alone with Carlisle at about 10:00. She was getting pretty tired, considering the fact that they were swimming in PE and she had barely gone to sleep the night before because of a nightmare-a rather unsettling nightmare.

Bella stopped by his office with a cold glass of water in her hands, dressed in long sleeve t-shirt and sweats.

" Carlisle, I'm going to sleep." She told him.

"Your throat-" Carlisle began. Her voice was husky.

Immediately Bella's eyes went wide and a hand flew to her neck. She turned red when she realized he was only talking about her scratchy voice.

He stared at her inquiringly for a moment before gliding from his rolling chair (that didn't move, considering his grace) and feeling Bella's forehead with his hand. She turned redder. After taking a quick glance at her tonsils, he saw that nothing was wrong.

"Doing a lot of yelling lately?" He asked, eyebrows raised. Bella lowered her head.

"I-I had a bad dream last night…Charlie had to wake me up. He said I was screaming bloody murder." She whispered. "I don't remember what it was about." She added quickly.

The doctor studied her for a moment.

"Are you ok?"

"Yea, fine." She mumbled.

"All right," he said "Do you need anything?" He asked. He was slightly surprised to see her in such long clothes. It wasn't that cold.

She shook her head.

"Goodnight, though" She managed a small smile.

He sighed. "Well, goodnight to you too, if you're sure you don't need anything." His gaze was on the brink of being skeptical. Bella looked more…fragile than usual.

"I don't." She insisted, eyes wide. She blushed at his worry.

He pulled Bella into a hug couldn't help but wonder at her choice of clothing. _Maybe she just wants to sleep in those tonight_, he thought. Carlisle kissed her on the forehead.

"Goodnight." he told her again.

She gave him another smile (this one faltered quicker than the last) before she walked out of the doorway and retreated to her room, praying that Carlisle did not follow her.

She was still blushing as she crawled into bed ,touched by Carlisle's concern. Charlie cared and all, but he was definitely not the touchy feely type. It made her miss her mother.

Bella gasped when a tear dribbled off her chin. She wasn't expecting that, and she wasn't expecting more to follow. But they did. She buried her face into her pillow, trying to muffle the sound from Carlisle's sensitive ears. Bella just wished that she would stop crying. She'd been crying too much lately, and all over that stupid new teacher Mr. Road. He had hated her at first, but now he liked her…and maybe a little too much.

Eventually she fell into a fitful sleep…

_Mr. Road's face appeared. It was all Bella could see. Why did Mr. Banner have to retire? She felt herself think before even her thoughts were engulfed with the picture of Mr. Road. He laughed, and it made her stomach hurt._

_"Bells, Bells, Bells, Great job on that test!" He said smiling and drawing her closer to him. She could feel herself get tense. God she didn't like this man._

_He smiled even bigger as he pulled her into a hug and laid his hand on her head, holding her there for a brief second._

_"Bye, Bells." He said. And then he leaned in and drew a kiss from her cheek. Bella did_ _**not** want to re-live_ _this again._

_She coughed and stumbled away but he dragged her back for more as he stole a kiss from her lips. Bella did_ _om her lips and ran his hand through her hair._

_"I got-to…I have to…to go." Bella stuttered, avoiding his piercing stare._

_He pushed her away harshly, and then slapped her, causing her to fall onto hard tile floor. She reached back to her head and brought it to her face, smelling the blood._

_Bella looked back up at Mr. Roads who was undressing with his eyes. It made her sick to her stomach. Bella leaned over and puked…_

Bella lurched from her bed and ran to the bathroom before dropping to her knees in front of the porcelain toilet. She wretched and puked again and again until nothing was left. Carlisle was right there holding her hair from the toilet and rubbing her back while whispering words into her ear. She continued to gag.

"Shhh Bella take deep breaths, honey." Her breaths had come shallow and she was now sobbing.

"Car…Carlisle!" he said his name as if he was the only thing keeping her alive. She moaned and turned into his chest, sobbing. "Car-Car-Car-…" She was too heavily choking on her sobs to even sputter his name out anymore.

"Shhhh," he crooned rubbing back more. "Relax, Bella. Everything will be fine."

He continued to rock her on the bathroom floor.

When she was finally calm he asked is she felt like she was going to puke again. She shook her head no so he carried her to her room and laid her back on the bed. She sipped from the cup of, now warm, water that was laying on her nightstand. She almost felt like getting sick again because of the taste in her mouth. As if he were Edward, Carlisle emerged from where ever with a colder glass of water and a couple of mints in his hand.

She thanked him softly before guzzling down the water until she nearly choked and started coughing. Carlisle took the drink from her hand and held it while the coughs shook her body.

He felt her forehead again. She did feel a bit hotter, but not much. It may have just been from her heavy clothing and sleeping under so many blankets.

"Bella," He breathed.. His eyes were questioning.

More tears came across the familiar path of her cheeks once more. Carlisle brushed her hair back, out of her face, so he could look into her eyes. As their eyes met, Bella leaned into Carlisle's chest and cried more. A tune escaped from his lips, and although it was in Hebrew, it forced Bella's breath to become less labored and her cheeks to turn their normal hue. It was one of the most beautiful songs Bella had ever heard.

"Shalom chaverim, shalom chaverim Shalom, Shalom Lehitraot, Lehitraot shalom, shalom..."

He sang until he drifted off into a soft hum.

"Carlisle…I-I have this…teacher…" She began, not knowing where to start.

"Mr. Roads?" He asked. Edward had said something about Mr. Banner retireing and a new teacher coming in.

Bella nodded into his chest.

"I don't like him. At all. I-I just-I don't know how to explain it but he hates me. He just does, but then sometimes… he doesn't."

Carlisle rubbed her back some more. "how do you know he hates you?" He asked, hoping that Bella would say she didn't and return to her senses.

"He-he..slapped me." She murmured, her head bent down. She felt Carlisle go tense beside her. The glass that was in his hand shattered in his hand onto the carpeted floor. Pieces flew off the dresser or hit the window making tink noises as they did so. Thankfully it was in the hand farthest away from Bella. Still, she flinched.

"He slapped you?" Carlisle whispered in disbelief. _No, no, no. Not my own daughter. How long? What else?_ Carlisle closed his eyes as if he were trying to process the information without hunting the man down and killing him. He was.

"I-I'm sorry-" Bella began. She didn't want to be the reason why Carlisle was angry. She's never really seen him mad before.

"No, Bella. Don't you dare be sorry." Carlisle cut her off. "You have nothing to be sorry for. Do you understand me? Nothing. I don't know what the man has been telling you, but it was not your fault. It's his." He told her sternly. How had Edward not heard his thoughts? How had Alice not had a vision?

Bella cried out of relief this time, but it wasn't sobs anymore. It was more controlled.

"Thank you, Carlisle." she said.

"Don't thank me, Bella. I didn't stop it from happening. I didn't know for so long." Carlisle whispered. Bella was in awe of how much he sounded like Edward.

Before Bella had a chance to tell him otherwise, he turned to her quickly and asked "Bella, he didn't-he didn't-"

"He hugged me," Bella told him "And then he kissed me on the cheek, but the other day he kiss-kissed me. Like on the lips. But then before that he hit me and he grabbed my arms and his fingernails dug into my skin. And then before that he choked me. He choked me, Carlisle! He yelled at me in class. He kept me after to yell at me more. I don't get it! Sometimes he likes me but sometimes he doesn't! I try to be extra good in the class. I promise! Just so-so he won't be so mad at me anymore, but he is. And I tried! I tried to get away I promise. I didn't want him to kiss me. I swear, but he just kept kissing me. I tried to run away but he grabbed me again. I couldn't stop him! I-I couldn't stop him!"

Bella was sobbing again now, and as she did she was still pleading with Carlisle to believe her.

"Bella I believe you. I do. No one said they didn't believe you. It's ok, Bella." Carlisle repeated himself again and again. Gradually the words started taking effect on her.

Just as she was getting more calmed down Edward appeared at the door. Carlisle had heard them come in earlier. Esme had kept all of the kids downstairs, though, as Bella told Carlisle exactly what Mr. Road had done.

Edward was shaking.

When Bella looked up to see Edward in the doorway, she immediately started pleading again. His anger vanished.

"Bella, honey, I love you. It's fine. Nothing was your fault. Nothing. I believe you." As he took Carlisle's place, Carlisle rose to leave and tell the family what was happening.

"No! Carlisle don't leave me please!" Bella said suddenly when she saw him move.

"All right Bella, I won't leave you." He slowly sat back down and took her hand.

"Bella, I want you to know that I don't blame you for anything. None of it is your fault. I still love you. I love you more every second of my life." Edward told her clearly, looking her straight in the eyes.

All of the tension left Bella's body. She relaxed under his gaze and took her death grip off of Carlisle's cold hand.

"I didn't want to tell anyone and cause trouble..." Bella mumbled into her hands.

"You are so beautiful, Bella. I love you more than I could ever tell you in words." He brushed his thumb over her cheeks and wiped away her tears.

"I love you too, Edward." She said and collapsed into his arms. She stayed there feeling just right as Edward whispered sweet nothings in her ear.

After a while Carlisle cleared his throat.

"Bella, I need to look at your arms, if you don't mind." Bella shook her head and Edward helped her get her shirt off.

Bella had band aids on her scratches, though they were almost soaked through with blood. At vampire speed, Carlisle ripped the bandages off, so that Bella hardly felt a thing. Edward growled softly when he saw what the demented teacher had done to his Bella.

Alice was in the room in a flash with more ointment and bandages. She smiled at Bella sadly before zipping back out of the room.

"Stop thinking that." Edward ordered. He knew Alice heard even if she was downstairs.

Carlisle carefully cleaned Bella's scratches before bandaging them again. Then he softly ran his hands over the bruising on her neck.

"God, Bella," he murmured.

Her head dropped. "I'm sor-"

"Bella. Stop apologizing, please. There is no need. You didn't do anything wrong."

She nodded her head, but still didn't look up.

Bella brought her head up so he could see her eyes.

"I-I just think that maybe if I was better or maybe if I was smarter he wouldn't have not liked me so much. I mean, why did he do that?"

" Bella, he chose you because he wanted to. No matter how smart you are or how beautiful, he could have still picked you. We have no clue if he was doing that to any others girls."

"He told me I was the only one." Bella said.

"He could have lied to you." Carlisle pointed out.

"He was crying." Bella said. A few tears came out. "He said I reminded him of his wife that left him."

Neither or them said anything to that. They sat there for a while in a comfortable silence. Carlisle rubbed small circles on Bella's hand, while she leaned back on to Edward's cold but comforting body.

Esme entered the room followed by Jasper, Emmett, Alice, and even Rosalie. She had chocolate chip cookies and milk on a tray.

"Hey, Bella!" Esme said, excited about seeing Bella and the cookies.

"Esme!" Bella answered, excited to see her. She hadn't realized how much she missed being with the family.

Alice looked like she was going to jump out of the window if she didn't get a chance to hug Bella.

"Calm down, Alice." Esme ordered at a very soft vampire speed.

"Thanks," murmured Jasper who thought he was going to go crazy because of his wife's excitement.

"I-I'm sorry, Bella about what happened." Rosalie said. She gave Bella a hug. Bella would have cried because of Rosalie's kindness, but she was fresh out of tears at the moment.

Emmett grinned and gave Bella a huge bear hug.

"I've missed ya Belly!" he said.

"I've missed you too, Em the Bear!"

Several cracked jokes and cookies later, Carlisle decided it was time for Bella to go back to sleep, so the kids left the room. Carlisle and Esme stayed for a while after she was asleep, discussing what needed to be done in hushed voices. Edward stayed of course, staring protectively at Bella through out the night.

"I keep thinking that I should have known. She just said she didn't want me to wait on her after biology. He yelled at her once in class. I was so mad. I left. I should have stayed. I could have controled myself. She just kept saying she wanted space, and when she gave me that phone call..." Edward didn't know how to explain to his dad how he was feeling.

"Edward, it's not your fault. You just spent the last hour telling Bella that. It just happened. I'm calling Charlie. He needs to know. Mr. Road won't be at school on Monday. Good night, son." Carlisle said. The couple turned the lights off as they walked out.

"Goodnigt, Edward" Esme said.

"Goodnight."

* * *

So what did you think? I actually like it, so tell me what you think!


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